As far-left's proposed candidate drops out, is France's search for new PM back to square one?

France’s wait for the new prime minister is set to get longer as the candidate proposed by the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), Huguette Bello, has dropped out of contention. She cited the lack of consensus as the reason for her withdrawal.

Even as the far-right National Rally (RN) was expected to sweep the French parliamentary elections, the tactical voting arrangement between the NPF and President Emmanuel Macron's centrist bloc Ensemble (ENS) relegated the RN to the third position . The left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NPF) emerged as the single-largest bloc but fell short of a clear majority. Of the 577 seats, the NPF won 188 seats, the ENS 161, and the RN 142.

While the NPF stopped the RN’s march to victory, the bloc’s parties have not been able to build consensus around the prime ministerial candidate. The main disagreement is between the far-left LFI and the Socialist Party.

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Earlier this week, the LFI had put forward the name of Bello , a veteran politician from the French overseas territory of Reunion, but the Socialists did not agree. The LFI is the largest party in the bloc with 78 seats and the Socialists rank second with 65 seats.

Is France’s search for PM back to square one?

After Bello’s withdrawal, the search from France’s new prime minister appears to be back to square one.

Beside the LFI, Bello had support from the Communist Party and Green Party as well. But as the Socialist Party kept opposing her, she withdrew her name from consideration as there was no consensus “among all members”.

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“Hopeful of an early agreement within the NFP, I have decided to decline without further delay the offer that I was made,” said Bello, as per AFP.

The Socialists have maintained that only someone from their party —preferably party leader Olivier Faure— could be acceptable for Macron to be appointed as the prime minister.

Initially, it was expected that that the LFI could push for party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon for the prime ministerial post. Mélenchon is a very controversial figure who is infamous for being accused as a rabid antisemite and notorious for his far-left agenda. He is not just detested by the centrists but is also resented by several within his own party and the coalition . To skirt around the opposition to Mélenchon, the LFI proposed Bello’s name but the Socialists did not even agree to that.

‘There’s no consensus’

Laying the NPF’s troubles bare, Socialist Party General Secretary Pierre Jouvet told AFP on Saturday that “there is no consensus name” for prime minister.

On the other hand, Macron has said that the next premier will neither be from the far-left LFI nor from the far-right RN.

Under the French political system, the president appoints the prime minister who has to be approved by the parliament. This means that the premier is from the party or coalition that controls the parliament but the president may still wield considerable sway as he may influence who from the party or the bloc is eventually appointed. For now, the outgoing premier, Gabriel Attal, is running the caretaker government.

Instead of getting shorter, the list of names for the next premier appears to be getting longer. By Thursday, the NPF’s choice was down to Faure or Bello, but then Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel put forward her name as well, according to Le Monde newspaper.

Then, as the LFI-Socialists squabbling continued, the Green Party proposed former party leader and ex-housing minister Cécile Duflot and the Communists floated the name of Christophe Robert, the head of the Fondation Abbé Pierre, a charity, as per the newspaper.

Earlier this week, the NPF had said that it would name the prime ministerial candidate this week, but it does not appear to be happening as there is no consensus among the parties.